


Dreams Vs. Reality

by rhodrymavelyne



Category: Hannibal (TV)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-11
Updated: 2021-01-11
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:22:50
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28697649
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rhodrymavelyne/pseuds/rhodrymavelyne
Summary: Dr. Frederick Chilton much prefers his dreams to reality while Will Graham finds his dreams are no escape from anything...or anybody.
Relationships: Dr. Frederick Chilton/Francis Dolarhyde, Will Graham/Hannibal Lecter
Kudos: 2





	Dreams Vs. Reality

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place after the end of the series. Frederick Chilton is still burned, still stuck in the hospital while Will Graham isn't sure where he's stuck. I don't own Hannibal but for over a year it has owned me.

One of the nice things about dreams is not only were Frederick Chilton’s lips and yes, his entire face back, but he could say all the things he’d kept behind his teeth to those who’d died and escaped his comebacks. Or were too traumatized to deal with his comebacks. No need to worry about such things in a dream. 

“You got eaten…hah!” Frederick could jeer and point his finger at Abel Gideon whom could shake his head and do little else, since his limbs had been devoured. Besides he was dead. 

“And you, you’re a lousy agent!” He’d wag his finger at Miriam Lass, who was no longer too lost in her trauma and sensible enough to hang her head in shame. 

“And you are a colassal pervert, far worse than anything Will Graham and I ever dreamed of, let alone said in an interview!” He moved up close, very close to the Great Red Dragon, lowered his voice. “I’ll see you and that dead body of yours in private later. I’ll show you awe.”

Nothing to worry about in a dream. Nothing to be ashamed of in a dream. 

“Aren’t you proud, Hannibal Lecter’s pretty little protegé, hiding behind your nuclear family when you’re about to go nuclear yourself.” He glowered at the image of Will Graham on a missing person’s report, only to turn his glare on another missing person’s report for Dr. Alana Bloom. “Whose chair is it now? Maybe I should have taken your skin along with your monster of a mentor’s.” He saved the last and final glower for an image of Jack Crawford in an old police report. “You looked down upon us all, yet you were as big a puppetmaster as Hannibal Lecter. Well, this puppet is cutting his strings.” 

He saved the lion’s portion of his fury for Hannibal Lecter. “Yes, you and Jack Crawford were twins of spirit in your elitism, your arrogance, the way you looked down on us poor egg-bound souls, even the ones whom you should consider your equals. I should have poured cheap wine all over your shoes when you forced me into them. I may not have the proper stuff but you have to walk in that stuff. Again and again, never losing your awareness that it's second-rate.” 

Oh, yes, Frederick Chilton was enjoying his dreams. They were the only place he could run to, escaping the constant pain in his body. 

****

For Will Graham, there was no escape. Not in dreams, not in memories. 

Sometimes he’d dream about Hannibal’s trial. The glib lies which rolled off not only Frederick Chilton’s tongue but Alana Bloom’s as well pained him. Yes, they had to lie. Yes, there were some truths they couldn’t admit in a courtroom. Yes, they’d all been trying to survive Mason Verger. He could feel the painful secrets reaching out with shadowy fingers, reaching for Frederick and Alana. 

He’d once warned Frederick that Hannibal Lecter operated from the shadows, to shine a light upon his doings. Light was no longer any option for any of them. 

Worse of all was the faint smile on Hannibal’s face while he watched Dr. Frederick Chilton and Dr. Alana Bloom, his former colleagues lie. From time to time, his eyes would seek out Will. 

Will tried not to look at him, but he could feel Hannibal’s gaze, hear his unspoken words in his brain even if they’d never be uttered in the courtroom. 

Do you see, Will? They’re no better than I am, Alana and Frederick. They’re certainly no better than you. Is it truly their place to decide who lives, who dies, and who should be in a cage?

Will got up, tried to run out of the court room, out of the dream, only to find Hannibal blocking his way. 

“Are you still trying to run and hide, Will, even if it’s within yourself?” Hannibal reached out for Will, only a hand grabbed Hannibal’s. 

It’s Jack Crawford’s, glowering at both at his former friend. “I’ll be taking Will Graham back now. You abused my trust, Hannibal. I never should have left him in your care.”

“No, you shouldn’t have,” Hannibal agrees, glancing at Jack, keeping most of his attention on Will. “Do you really think he’s yours to take back, Jack?”

“He’s never been yours to take at all,” Jack growled. Any moment, he was ready to start swinging. 

“Enough!” Will snapped. “I know this is a dream, but stop fighting over me like I was some trinket or tool you can take home from the office.

Hannibal and Jack turned to Will at the exact same moment. The looks of identical, almost innocent shock on their faces made Will want to laugh hysterically. 

He wakes himself up, laughing, feels the restaints of the bed, the softness of the mattress beside him. 

Hannibal is sitting in the chair beside him, wearing an open silk robe. There’s a relaxed sensuality about him in his seat, yet he gazed at Will with tender concern. 

“You must be having amusing thoughts or dreams,” he said in a contemplative tone. “You can find almost anything or anyone in a dream if you look for it.”

“Have you?” Will asked, relaxing a little. His face felt sore where the Dragon stabbed him. 

“Yes. I often searched for my sister. A few times I looked for Abigail.” Hannibal smiled, yet there was a soberness to the turn of his mouth. “I’ve lost track of the times I’ve gone searching for you. They almost felt like mini-quests, trying to navigate the wilderness of what I’d glimpsed of your mind.”

“My mind has never been a comforting place.” Will closed my eyes for a moment, not sure if he wanted to look at the dark wilderness, the cascading water over the totem on the beach. Will Graham hadn’t been able to escape from these places when he was sick. He could make them retreat now he was in better control of myself, but he could also summon it. 

“Nor has it ever been dull.” Hannibal leaned forward to gaze solemnly at his precious prisoner. “You don’t know how much I value that, Will. Never stop yourself from dreaming.”

Will Graham wasn’t sure if this was a blessing or a curse. Perhaps it was both. All part of the duality of being with Hannibal Lecter. 

Will bit his lip to stop himself from laughing again. He couldn’t help smiling.

As he had long ago, before Will Graham had any idea who he, or what he was doing to him, Hannibal Lecter smiled back.

No matter what he’d been planning, the smile had been real. Just as it was real now. 

The man and the monster were both real. They both wanted to be with him. 

Just what did that say about Will Graham, about what he was turning into? It was nothing he could control, but perhaps it wasn’t something Hannibal could control either.

They’d just have to wait and see what it was. 

***

Frederick Chilton awoke to pain all over his body. It was all he could do to stop from screaming. 

“Can I get you a blanket?” Francis Dolarhyde sat in the visitor’s chair, staring at him with dead green eyes. 

He would have screamed if he could. He found himself facing an alarmed nurse. 

“Dr. Chilton, please calm down.” Handsome fellow with a smooth voice. Nice skin. Didn’t match the rest of skin grafted to him but nice. “Please.” 

Frederick tried to calm down, to gulp. He tried to nod, and felt more pain shoot down his neck. 

“Please. Don’t move. I’ll get you a blanket.” The nurse moved away with a brisk efficiency, none of the predatory, loping grace the Great Red Dragon had possessed. 

Was he doomed to dream of the man who bit him and burned him forever? He needed to start writing. He needed to do something to heal faster so he could start writing, get some of this madness into carefully controlled reasoning, so it could no longer haunt him. 

Reality and his waking hours were miserable without a computer. It made Frederick want to go to sleep again.

**Author's Note:**

> The line "Can I get you a blanket?" is from And the Number of the Beast Is 666.
> 
> "Egg-bound" is a term Thomas Harris had Hannibal think of the common crowd as in Hannibal.


End file.
